It's just a big stone, really
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A satellite may weight 1-5 tons I guess. A asteriod can be as big as our moon or bigger (Pluto is seen as a kind of asteriod by many scientists). So the mass of most asteroids that could be dangerous for us is so high that it's like throwing stones against mountains.
Still, there's no reason that this experiment can't work. The relative masses involved isn't an issue; the energy transferred from the satellite to the asteroid is. For all practical purposes, the system formerly known as the satellite will become one with the system that is the asteroid, and it will impart its energy to the new configuration. At high enough speeds, along the proper path, a measurable change in the path of the asteroid could well result. It's the speed that matters (as in Ek = .5mv2 ). "Knock, knock." "Who's there?" "Recursion." "Recursion who?" "Knock, knock..."
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But if a penny dropped from the Empire State Building can imbed itself in the cement on the sidewalk, then this small object should be able to move an asteroid...right? David Stone It seemed similar to someone saying, "Would you like to meet my knife collection?" Ryan Johnston on Elaine's sig
David Stone wrote: a penny dropped from the Empire State Building can imbed itself in the cement on the sidewalk, I belive that's actually an urban myth. :-) Regardz Colin J Davies
Sonork ID 100.9197:Colin
You are the intrepid one, always willing to leap into the fray! A serious character flaw, I might add, but entertaining. Said by Roger Wright about me.
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Don't they realize that rox have feelings also !! :mad: Regardz Colin J Davies
Sonork ID 100.9197:Colin
You are the intrepid one, always willing to leap into the fray! A serious character flaw, I might add, but entertaining. Said by Roger Wright about me.
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Still, there's no reason that this experiment can't work. The relative masses involved isn't an issue; the energy transferred from the satellite to the asteroid is. For all practical purposes, the system formerly known as the satellite will become one with the system that is the asteroid, and it will impart its energy to the new configuration. At high enough speeds, along the proper path, a measurable change in the path of the asteroid could well result. It's the speed that matters (as in Ek = .5mv2 ). "Knock, knock." "Who's there?" "Recursion." "Recursion who?" "Knock, knock..."
Agreed, But there are a few other issues involved, Like the ability to put a good spin on the asteroid. The more the spin the better it will break when it reaches our atmosphere. Regardz Colin J Davies
Sonork ID 100.9197:Colin
You are the intrepid one, always willing to leap into the fray! A serious character flaw, I might add, but entertaining. Said by Roger Wright about me.
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David Wulff wrote: I think you missed my point. No. You said "What if a rock knocks us?" I said "We're trying to prevent the rock from knocking us." I got your point, I'm just saying that that's the whole purpose of shooting a satellite at the rock...so that we can shoot satellites at things that try to actually come at us. David Stone It seemed similar to someone saying, "Would you like to meet my knife collection?" Ryan Johnston on Elaine's sig
David Stone wrote: I got your point No you didn't, obviously. :) You said "if we knock the rock a bit, we're just going to send it somewhere far off into space" - i.e. who the f**k cares? I was posing to you to the exact same thing in reversed terms. But hey, it is night time and I am in a really really bad mood (not your fault, don't worry), so I think it is best we agree to disagree on principles here and leave it at that.
David Wulff http://www.davidwulff.co.uk
One 18yrs male, red and white, good condition; daily servicing required. £500 collect ono.
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That's my point. I'm saying that the penny goes into the concrete because it's hard and it hits a hard object at a high downward velocity. Thus David Wulff's analogy to throwing rocks at a mountain is flawed because we will be able to move a large rock with a (relatively) small satellite. Besides, a mountain is anchored to the earth. An asteroid is anchored to nothing but itself. David Stone It seemed similar to someone saying, "Would you like to meet my knife collection?" Ryan Johnston on Elaine's sig
David Stone wrote: Thus David Wulff's analogy I dind't say that! That was the other guy!
David Wulff http://www.davidwulff.co.uk
One 18yrs male, red and white, good condition; daily servicing required. £500 collect ono.
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Funny you should mention him; i've scheduled an appointment later this evening. At one time, they would let him come into work and assist in on-the-job therapy, but heath care just isn't what it used to be here...
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Shog9 If I could sleep forever, I could forget about everything...
:rolleyes: Good luck in your consultation!
David Wulff http://www.davidwulff.co.uk
One 18yrs male, red and white, good condition; daily servicing required. £500 collect ono.
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David Wulff wrote: A penny (at least sterling pennies) are made of copper No clue what a sterling penny is, but AFAIK they stopped making pennies from copper (at least primarily) here, after copper become worth more than $0.01... They are mostly zinc now.
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Shog9 If I could sleep forever, I could forget about everything...
Shog9 wrote: No clue what a sterling penny is Sterling is our currency over here, so I a sterling penny is one hundredth of our pound. Shog9 wrote: AFAIK they stopped making pennies from copper (at least primarily) here, after copper become worth more than $0.01... They are mostly zinc now I'm not sure if your cents are worth more than our pennies or vice versa, but AFAIK we make ours either from pure copper or from some type of copper alloy. If ours were made of zinc we wouldn't be able to call them coppers any more... :rolleyes:
David Wulff http://www.davidwulff.co.uk
One 18yrs male, red and white, good condition; daily servicing required. £500 collect ono.
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Shog9 wrote: No clue what a sterling penny is Sterling is our currency over here, so I a sterling penny is one hundredth of our pound. Shog9 wrote: AFAIK they stopped making pennies from copper (at least primarily) here, after copper become worth more than $0.01... They are mostly zinc now I'm not sure if your cents are worth more than our pennies or vice versa, but AFAIK we make ours either from pure copper or from some type of copper alloy. If ours were made of zinc we wouldn't be able to call them coppers any more... :rolleyes:
David Wulff http://www.davidwulff.co.uk
One 18yrs male, red and white, good condition; daily servicing required. £500 collect ono.
Actually, according to this writup, your pennies are copper-plated steel. (see, i learn a lot by sidetracking threads...)
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Shog9 If I could sleep forever, I could forget about everything...
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Agreed, But there are a few other issues involved, Like the ability to put a good spin on the asteroid. The more the spin the better it will break when it reaches our atmosphere. Regardz Colin J Davies
Sonork ID 100.9197:Colin
You are the intrepid one, always willing to leap into the fray! A serious character flaw, I might add, but entertaining. Said by Roger Wright about me.
Colin^Davies wrote: The more the spin the better Usually, but sometimes you want to make the shot using minimal english. For instance, if your objective was to park it just between the moon and Earth, to deny your opponent a clear shot at Venus, then you might want to pull the shot a bit. Interstellar billiards takes a bit more finesse than the usual kind. "Knock, knock." "Who's there?" "Recursion." "Recursion who?" "Knock, knock..."
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:cool:
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But I don't think energy has anything to do with how a penny imbeds itself in cement. I believe that is an issue of velocity. Which would lead to the penny being imbedded in the cement. David Stone It seemed similar to someone saying, "Would you like to meet my knife collection?" Ryan Johnston on Elaine's sig
Actually velocity is connected to the issue but not directly. What causes the penny to 'implant' itself in teh cement is the energy it gets from velocity, or as the formal name goes, the Kinetic Energy. When the penny is at the top of the Empire State Bldg (or wherever that is) it gains energy (forgot the english name, it has something to do with position if I'm not mistaken) which is the energy calculated in the formula E=mgh. According to the law of preservation of energy this energy remains constant when you let the penny go down, and since it is no longer static, the energy stored transforms into Kinetic energy E= (m*v^2)/2. This energy is what causes a head to blow up when hit by a bullet.... As to the sattelite-asteroid stuff, the sattelite cannot destroy the asteroid of course. Because the asteroid is in vaccum, there are no forces acting upon it. A brand-name sattelite at the right spot in the right time will alter the course of even the biggest asteroid AS MUCH AS IT WOULD ALTER THE COURSE OF A FLYING SQUIRREL (at least almost)... It's only a matter of velocity and vectors. Oh, and for throwing rocks at mountains to move earth, try to pull yourself up by pulling your hair... if that works, you can move earth in that way... One final note... size (mass) DOES matter, but the matter itself matters too. Actually a trait of the 'metals' used (it is called Hardiness, I believe) determines which hurts which more, the same way a bullet will do much more damage than a melon thrown at the same speed, although the melon has many times more mass than the bullet. Damn... I'm a geek and I'm boring... what's the name of that shrink again? :~ -- Young Basic programmers never die... they just GOSUB and never RETURN.
